Mr. Popo
|JapName=ミスター・ポポ |RomName=Misutā Popo |AniName=Mr. Popo |MangaName=Mr. Popo |AltName= |CanonTo=Original Manga |FirstApp=Manga: Issue #135 Anime: "Temple Above the Clouds" |Race=Genie |Date of birth=Before Age 461 |Date of death=Age 774 (Revived) |FamConnect= Dende (Guardian) Kami (Former Guardian) Goku (Student) Tien Shinhan (Student) Krillin (Student) Yamcha (Student) Chiaotzu (Student) Yajirobe (Student)}} Mr. Popo (ミスター・ポポ Misutā Popo) is an assistant-deity in the ''Dragon Ball'' series by Akira Toriyama. He is apparently an immortal genie who tends the grounds of Kami's Lookout and is bound there eternally as the gardener and caretaker; although he can travel anywhere in the world when the occasion calls for it, using a magic carpet for Instant Transportation. Biography Though he does not appear to physically age, Mr. Popo is very old; having served Kami, the Guardian of Earth for hundreds of years, he also served Kami's predecessor, as well as guardians of the Earth into the distant past.Short profile at DBZGT Legacy Being the loyal and faithful servant that he is, his "job description" and usefulness covers a wide variety of areas, such as tending to Kami's palace and grounds, keeping the Lookout clean, training Earth people to deal with especially dangerous enemies of the planet (such as Piccolo Jr. at the end of Dragon Ball, and Vegeta and Nappa at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z), taking over the lookout when the guardian is away, odd and interesting things such as helping to reconstruct Shenron if needed, and most importantly, supporting, serving and taking care of the current Guardian. He also tends to the ancient butterfly garden that he planted thousands of years ago, and enjoys the more simple things in life. He is one of several Dragon Ball characters, such as Android 8 and Android 16, who openly and greatly appreciates the natural world. Mr. Popo commonly refers to himself in the third person. While FUNimation's English dubbed Mr. Popo speaks complete with highly sophisticated sentences, the Japanese version portrays him as a seemingly primitive figure. His grasp of the common tongue is less than the English-dubbed version makes it out to be. Dragon Ball Although his skill as a martial artist is not shown frequently, Mr. Popo is an excellent martial arts master. When he is introduced in Dragon Ball, he is a much superior fighter than Goku in nearly all respects, when the two meet at the Lookout. After defeating King Piccolo, Goku uses his Power Pole to reach Kami's Lookout. When Goku first reaches Kami's Lookout in the anime, he encounters Mr. Popo seated on a Persian rug (likely the same one he uses to fly with in Dragon Ball Z), with what appears to be a light fog covering him and birds on his shoulders. After they greet each other and battle, Goku puts up a good fight against the genie and attempts a Kamehameha at him, only to have it literally swallowed by Mr. Popo in return. Goku then tries to defeat Mr. Popo by using the punch that beat King Piccolo (also known as "Penetrate!") only to have him evade it with no difficulty. Mr. Popo introduced Goku to Kami, who Goku tried to attack due to looking similar to King Piccolo, but fails. After Goku encounters Kami, Mr. Popo trains Goku for three years until the young warrior learns everything he knows, and enters the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament to defeat Piccolo Jr. with his newly attained abilities. Some of the techniques Goku developed in his three-year training later proved valuable; such as the Ki Sense and the Super Kamehameha, a more lethal version of the trademark attack. When used against Piccolo Jr. in the World Martial Arts Tournament, however, Kami's alter-ego survives it with minimal damage. Dragon Ball Z Saiyans Attack Five years later, Mr. Popo and Kami train Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Chiaotzu and Yajirobe in order to help combat the approaching threat of the Saiyans. When Piccolo is killed in battle, Mr. Popo watches Kami die and disappear, making the Dragon Balls non functional. After Vegeta's defeat and retreating, Mr. Popo helps Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan get to the planet Namek by telling them about Kami's old spaceship when they were at the hospital. He then showed Bulma the location of the spaceship at Yunzabit Heights by using his Magic Carpet, and learned her the Namek language so they can go to Namek and use their Dragon Balls to revive their other fallen friends, including Piccolo, whoch also bring Kami and the Earth Dragon Balls back. After Kami's resurrection, Mr. Popo collects the Dragon Balls on Earth in less than one day to resurrect all those who were killed by Frieza and his soldiers on Namek as part of King Kai's plan to save those on Namek, excluding Frieza, from the planet's explosion. Garlic Jr.'s return In the filler Garlic Jr. Saga, Mr. Popo is attacked by Garlic Jr.'s henchmen while watering the plants on the Lookout. He is sealed in a glass bottle by Garlic Jr. Later, he is released by Krillin and Piccolo. He takes Kami to the bottom of the Lookout to spread the Sacred Water where the former Guardians' graves lie. He later spreads the Sacred Water to the Earth. The Androids and Cell Three years later, Mr.Popo appears again in the Cell Saga, where he leads Goku, Gohan, Trunks and Vegeta to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for a year of training in one day. Later, he observes the Cell Games on the Lookout with the new guardian of the Earth, Dende. Death and revival Seven years later, in the Majin Buu story arcs, Mr. Popo comes up with the idea of having Trunks and Goten do the Fusion Dance after everyone else runs out of other ideas. The family and friends of the Z Fighters take refuge from Majin Buu on Kami's Lookout. Only in the anime, Mr. Popo has a brief match with Goten and Trunks in their Super Saiyan forms. During the fight, he blocks several hits and even dodges a kick. After Goten manages to kick him once, he appears uninjured; proving him a far stronger character than others assume he is. Mr. Popo also observes the fusion of Trunks and Goten. A day later, Super Buu finds the Lookout and allows them to live for a short time. While there, Super Buu used his Human Extinction Attack to kill all the people on Earth, except for Mr. Satan, his dog Bee, Tien, Chiaotzu, and the family and friends on the Lookout. When Buu escapes from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Mr. Popo and the rest are turned into chocolate and eaten. However, before he was turned into chocolate, after seeing the murders of Android 18 and her daughter, Popo bravely makes a quick decision, seizing Dende and hurling him off of the lookout, out of Buu's rampage. He is commended for his bravery by Piccolo, when the Namek comes across the surviving Dende. Popo is later revived and gives his energy to help Goku make the Super Spirit Bomb to destroy Kid Buu. He greets Dende warmly when he and the others arrive back on Earth. Dragon Ball GT Mr. Popo has a very small role in Dragon Ball GT. In the first episode, he prepared to restore the Lookout after Goku and Uub finished their intense training and damaged the place almost entirely. Later, during the events of the Baby Saga, Mr. Popo along with Dende attempt to assault Kibito Kai, who travels to Kami's Lookout to get the Sacred Water to cleanse the human race of Baby's parasites. After this, he remains as a background character for most of the show. He is last seen during the flashback montage sequence in the final episode. Movie Appearances *''Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler'' *''Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans'' *''Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku'' (seen in one of Bardock's visions) Special abilities *'Levitate': This is the ability to fly using one's ki. Mr. Popo can quickly control his energy and push ki out from underneath him allowing him to fly or levitate in the air with ease. *'Magic Materialization': A magical ability used to create objects from seemingly thin air. Mr. Popo can bring out a rolled-up ball of carpet from nowhere and throw it upon the ground which, instead of actually touching the floor, opens up in mid-air and becomes his magical flying carpet. *'Instantaneous Movement': Unlike the Instant Transmission, he can transport instantly to a desired location on Earth without requiring the use of an energy signature to home in on. He is first seen using this technique when he transported with Bulma on his flying carpet to Yunzabit Heights, which was the region where Kami's old house (which was really a spaceship) crash-landed and needed to be restored. *'Swallow ''ki blasts': Mr. Popo can swallow [[Ki Blast|blasts of ''ki]] as shown in Dragon Ball when he fought Goku at Kami's Lookout. Devouring Goku's Kamehameha resulted in a smoky belch. Voice Actors *Japanese Dub: Toku Nishio (DB, DBZ, DBGT, DBZ Movie 6), Kawazu Yasuhiko (Dragon Ball Kai) *Ocean Dub: Alvin Sanders (Saiyan and Namek sagas), French Tickner (Android Saga onwards) *Funimation Dub: Chris Cason (DBZ Season 3 originally, Dragon Ball Z Kai), Christopher Sabat (Everything else) *Latin American Dub: Carlos Segundo (DB, DBZ, DBGT), Jorge Palafox (DBZ Kai) *Brazilian Dub: Cesar Marchetti Trivia *In the event that a guardian dies before finding a successor, Mr. Popo (who is immortal) is responsible for finding one. *Mr. Popo seems to be able to speak the Namek language taught to him by Kami (even though Kami found out he was from Namek only a short while before his death). *To some, Mr. Popo is claimed to be a variant of darky iconography, a "racist" style of caricature.[http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/newforms/ New Racist Forms: Jim Crow in the 21st Century article] On May 4, 2000, an article written by children's book author Carole Boston Weatherford claimed that Mr. Popo, along with the Pokémon #124, Jynx, were derogatory stereotypes because of the black skin, big lips, and for Mr. Popo, the lack of teeth.[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1:63650354/Japans+bigoted+exports+to+kids%7eR%7e(Opinion).html Entry page to Japan's bigoted exports to kids.(Opinion) article] In 2004, Viz began to downsize Mr. Popo's large lips digitally in the American release of the manga. Pokémon had changed Jynx's face and hands to purple.Viz Media's modifications to Mr. Popo's lips in the manga *In the 4Kids version of Dragon Ball Z Kai, Mr. Popo is recolored royal blue. Gallery Notes and references External links *Early character drawings at http://www.daizex.com/ Category:Characters who can fly Category:Characters Who Cannot Die of Natural Causes Category:Deities Category:Dragon Ball Category:Dragon Ball Z Category:Dragon Ball GT Category:Local Deities Category:Males Category:Martial Artists Category:Z Fighters Support